Thursday, April 12, 2012

"Apple released Java for OS X 2012-003 Thursday afternoon, a software update that removes 'the most common variants of the Flashback malware.' Thursday's update was foreshadowed by an announcement on Apple's support page Tuesday."

You can download the update here, and this is the 3rd one in a week that Apple has issued. This update also disables the automatic execution of applets, and if you restore them and then don't use applets for an "extended period of time," it will automatically disable them again. In other news, it appears that this might not be as widespread as initially thought.

Monday, April 9, 2012

"We've entered a new era in Mac security, but there's no need to panic."

With an estimated 500,000 Macs infected, it appears this is the most widespread virus ever for the Mac. But Apple has been putting out the patches and this article will give you a good run through on what to do in order to protect yourself. Or, if you are already infected, it will help you clean up your system.

Friday, April 6, 2012

"According to Russian antivirus firm Dr. Web, over 600,000 Macs worldwide are infected with the Mac flashback trojan. The trojan can be installed if you visit a malicious website, and it will attempt to connect your Mac to a bonnet."

Most of the infected machines appear to be in North America, with 57% of them in the US and 20% located in Canada. The vulnerability was patched, but in case you didn't get it done in time and are wondering if you have it, there are a couple of sites that can help you. You can either visit F-Secure's website and they can walk you through the process to check and clean it, or you can check your machine via Dr. Web's site. Dr. Web also has a free Mac App if you prefer using that to check your machine.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

"A new trojan-based security threat dubbed "BlackHole RAT" has hit the Mac, and while still in a rudimentary stage, still poses a real risk to Mac OS X users."

Something to be aware of really, since it is in the initial stages according to this report from iThreats. So what can you do to prevent this trojan from latching onto your system? Simple really, just avoid pirated software sites and only surf sites you trust, as this one requires user interaction in order to get installed on your system. I'm sure we will be hearing more about it as it progresses from it's current beta stage.